According to foreign media reports, a study released on Sunday showed that children born in 2021 experienced an average of 7 times more heat waves, 2 times more wildfires, nearly 3 times more droughts, crop failures and river floods than grandparents affected by climate change.
The findings, published in the journal Science, found that global warming will disproportionately affect the lives of young people and children, especially in extreme events where climate change exacerbates. It is the first study to extensively simulate extreme events and future climate scenarios and apply cross-population group projections to quantify how people of different age groups around the world will experience climate disasters during their lifetime.
On July 21, 2021, the heat wave rolled in the hot summer and the child cooled down with an ice watermelon. Image according to IC photo
Wim Thiery, a climate scientist at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, who led the study, said the outlook would be troubling if the pace of global warming continued uncontrolled. "We have found that it is unprecedented for all people under the age of 40 today to experience heat waves, droughts and floods in their lifetime," Thierry said. This is true even in the most conservative cases. ”
The study showed significant intergenerational inequalities, but the researchers say climate change will have a more severe impact on children in developing countries. Despite the commitments of countries in the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this burden will remain disproportionate. Compared to 53 million children in the same age group in Europe and Central Asia, 172 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are likely to experience 50 times more heat waves and 6 times more extreme events in their lifetimes.
While such results are worrying enough, Thierry said the climate could have a greater impact on people's lives than the study estimated. That's because the researchers only focused on the frequency of extreme events, not their duration and severity.
Research shows that climate change is not only making events such as heat waves, droughts and wildfires more likely, but also more severe. "We didn't take into account the fact that future severe heatwaves could last twice as long as they do now," Thierry said. ”
He added that the researchers also only considered one extreme weather event in isolation, meaning the study didn't cover how their impact would be amplified if they happened at the same time. "Given heat waves, droughts, floods and tropical cyclones, these extreme events are entirely possible simultaneous." Thierry said. But he believes that there is still hope. "If countries can drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit the effects of global warming, some of the scary scenarios in the study could be avoided."
Young people have been at the forefront of climate activism, with protests such as Friday for Future demanding government action. World leaders will convene the 2021 UNITED Nations Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, at which countries are expected to develop ambitious plans to cut emissions for 2030.
"This should be the time for a call to action." "We have the ability to avoid the worst global warming," Thierry said. For all of us who are alive today, we need to tackle climate change. ”
Red Star News reporter Jiang Yijin
Edited by Pan Li
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